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1991–92 NHL season
The 1991–92 NHL season was the 75th regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL) which lasted from October 3, 1991 to June 1, 1992. The Pittsburgh Penguins repeated as Stanley Cup champions, winning a best of seven series four games to none against the Chicago Blackhawks. League Business This was the first season for the San Jose Sharks, the first expansion team in the NHL since 1979. The birth of the Sharks returned NHL hockey to the San Francisco Bay Area after the California Golden Seals had relocated to Cleveland, Ohio in 1976. This was also the last season for John Ziegler as NHL president; he would be succeeded by Gil Stein, who held the position for one year before being replaced by Gary Bettman, whose position would be renamed to NHL commissioner during the 1992-93 NHL season. A new rule was added in which the final minute of every period is measured in tenths of a second, unlike whole seconds as in past seasons. Throwback Uniforms As part of the NHL's 75th anniversary celebration, and taking cues from Major League Baseball's "Turn Back The Clock" uniform program, throwback uniforms were worn by Original Six teams for select games, and throwbacks were also worn for the All-Star Game. The uniform styles that were worn include: *Boston Bruins – c. 1933 *Chicago Blackhawks – c. 1940 *Detroit Red Wings – c. 1928 *Montreal Canadiens – c. 1926 *New York Rangers – c. 1940 *Toronto Maple Leafs – c. 1940 *Wales All-Stars – white All-Star jersey c. 1952 *Campbell All-Stars – red All-Star jersey c. 1952 The throwback uniforms would influence future seasons in the NHL, as several teams adopted throwbacks as alternate jerseys. The National Football League and National Basketball Association would follow the NHL's lead, with teams wearing throwbacks to celebrate their leagues' 75th and 50th anniversaries, respectively. Regular Season New York Rangers defenseman Brian Leetch became the fifth, and last as of 2018, defenseman to score 100 points in a season. He finished the season with 102 points and captured the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the league's best defenseman. The Rangers ended the season with 105 points, winning the Presidents' Trophy as the top regular-season team in the NHL. It was the first time the Rangers had topped the league since 1942. For the first time, the NHL finished play in the month of June. A primary reason for this was the 10-day NHL strike, the first work stoppage in league history, that started on April 1, 1992. The games that were supposed to be played during the strike were not canceled, but rescheduled and made up when play resumed on April 12, 1992. For the first time in his NHL career, Wayne Gretzky failed to finish in the top two in scoring. The Pittsburgh Penguins' Kevin Stevens became only the third person in NHL history to outscore Gretzky in the regular season (Marcel Dionne tied Gretzky in Wayne's rookie year, but had more goals, and Mario Lemieux won the Art Ross Trophy over Gretzky in 1988 and 1989). Awards *Presidents' Trophy: New York Rangers *Prince of Wales Trophy: Pittsburgh Penguins *Clarence S. Campbell Bowl: Chicago Blackhawks *Art Ross Trophy: Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins *Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy: Mark Fitzpatrick, New York Islanders *Calder Memorial Trophy: Pavel Bure, Vancouver Canucks *Conn Smythe Trophy: Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins *Frank J. Selke Trophy: Guy Carbonneau, Montreal Canadiens *Hart Memorial Trophy: Mark Messier, New York Rangers *Jack Adams Award: Pat Quinn, Vancouver Canucks *James Norris Memorial Trophy: Brian Leetch, New York Rangers *King Clancy Memorial Trophy: Ray Bourque, Boston Bruins *Lady Byng Memorial Trophy: Wayne Gretzky, Los Angeles Kings *Lester B. Pearson Award: Mark Messier, New York Rangers *NHL Plus/Minus Award: Paul Ysebaert, Detroit Red Wings *Vezina Trophy: Patrick Roy, Montreal Canadiens *William M. Jennings Trophy: Patrick Roy, Montreal Canadiens *Lester Patrick Trophy: Al Arbour, Art Berglund, Lou Lamoriello All-Star teams Player Statistics Scoring leaders (Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points) Leading goaltenders (Note: GP = Games Played; TOI = Time On Ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals Against; SO = Shutouts; Sv% = Save Percentage; GAA = Goals Against Average) Coaches Patrick Division *New Jersey Devils: Tom McVie and Herb Brooks *New York Islanders: Al Arbour *New York Rangers: Roger Neilson *Philadelphia Flyers: Paul Holmgren and Bill Dineen *Pittsburgh Penguins: Scotty Bowman *Washington Capitals: Terry Murray Adams Division *Boston Bruins: Rick Bowness *Buffalo Sabres: John Muckler *Hartford Whalers: Jim Roberts *Montreal Canadiens: Pat Burns *Quebec Nordiques: Pierre Page Norris Division *Chicago Blackhawks: Mike Keenan *Detroit Red Wings: Bryan Murray *Minnesota North Stars: Bob Gainey *St. Louis Blues: Brian Sutter *Toronto Maple Leafs: Tom Watt Smythe Division *Calgary Flames: Doug Risebrough and Guy Charron *Edmonton Oilers: Ted Green *Los Angeles Kings: Tom Webster *San Jose Sharks: George Kingston *Vancouver Canucks: Pat Quinn *Winnipeg Jets: John Paddock Milestones First Games *Stu Barnes, Winnipeg Jets *Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils *Pavel Bure, Vancouver Canucks *Keith Carney, Buffalo Sabres *Evgeny Davydov, Winnipeg Jets *Ted Donato, Boston Bruins *Pat Falloon, San Jose Sharks *Adam Foote, Quebec Nordiques *Bill Guerin, New Jersey Devils *Derian Hatcher, Minnesota North Stars *Bret Hedican, St. Louis Blues *Arturs Irbe, San Jose Sharks *Trevor Kidd, Calgary Flames *Igor Kravchuk, Chicago Blackhawks *Ray Whitney, San Jose Sharks *Joe Juneau, Boston Bruins *Valeri Kamensky, Quebec Nordiques *Vladimir Konstantinov, Detroit Red Wings *Vyacheslav Kozlov, Detroit Red Wings *Martin Lapointe, Detroit Red Wings *Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings *Shawn McEachern, Pittsburgh Penguins *Marty McInnis, New York Islanders *Glen Murray, Boston Bruins *Scott Niedermayer, New Jersey Devils *Felix Potvin, Toronto Maple Leafs *Jozef Stumpel, Boston Bruins *Darryl Sydor, Los Angeles Kings *Keith Tkachuk, Winnipeg Jets *Rob Zamuner, New York Rangers Last Games *Barry Pederson, Boston Bruins *Rick Vaive, Buffalo Sabres *Tony Tanti, Buffalo Sabres *Clint Malarchuk, Buffalo Sabres *Greg Millen, Detroit Red Wings *Ilkka Sinisalo, Los Angeles Kings *Larry Robinson, Los Angeles Kings *Chris Nilan, Montreal Canadiens *Patrik Sundstrom, New Jersey Devils *Rick Green, New York Islanders *John Tonelli, Quebec Nordiques *Mark Pavelich, San Jose Sharks *Ken Linseman, Toronto Maple Leafs *Mike Bullard, Toronto Maple Leafs *Randy Gregg, Vancouver Canucks *Mike Liut, Washington Capitals *Mario Marois, Winnipeg Jets *Lucien DeBlois, Winnipeg Jets *Aaron Broten, Winnipeg Jets Category:NHL seasons